HUD to close San Diego office

Maria Acevedo, of North Park, speaks with attorneys on her legal options at a HUD-approved counseling event in San Diego. HUD's San Diego office is scheduled to shut down by fall 2014.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

Maria Acevedo, of North Park, speaks with attorneys on her legal options at a HUD-approved counseling event in San Diego. HUD's San Diego office is scheduled to shut down by fall 2014.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development -- a government agency that funds housing help for low-income families and the homeless -- plans to close its field office in San Diego and 15 others across the nation, officials have said.

Widely known as HUD, the agency is shutting down smaller satellite posts to save up to $150 million over a decade in leasing and operation costs, and to shift the agency's services to larger offices, said Gene Gibson, a HUD spokeswoman in San Francisco. The closures, also set for its offices in Fresno and Sacramento, are expected to happen by October 2014.

The bulk of HUD funding goes toward housing grants to non-profit groups that provide services, from subsidized housing to low-income households to helping homeless veterans. Gibson said the San Diego office carries out mainly administrative duties, but some of its employees are tied to some of HUD's programs.

Six employees work at the local office. They have the option of relocating to another HUD office at the government's expense, taking a buyout of up to $25,000, or retiring early, Gibson said.

Losing the San Diego field office will mean the loss of local knowledge of resources and market dynamics that can help residents with housing needs, said Gabe del Rio, COO of Community HousingWorks, a local non-profit that receives HUD funding and works with families to prevent foreclosures among other things. Non-profit groups in San Diego that receive HUD funding are expected to turn to the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices for direction and resources.

"Instead, we will be contending with professionals who will have a more regional approach with more diffuse local knowledge," del Rio said. "It's unclear what that will mean to our work, but it is clearly a loss and will likely make things more difficult for providers and the public alike."

HUD's field-office network has been in place since the Nixon era and has been due for a change mainly because a lot of interoffice communications can be done via phone or computer, said Gibson, the HUD spokeswoman.

"This doesn't mean that HUD will disengage and disinvest from communities," she said. "It's a decision to be more efficient."

A total of 25 employees in California will be affected by the closures in San Diego, Sacramento and Fresno.

A group of California lawmakers that include Rep. Jerry McNerney, a Democrat from Stockton, wants HUD to rethink the closures.

"This is a clear example of the administration’s lack of attention to the continued crisis in California’s housing market," said McNerney in a statement. "...California has been disproportionately affected by the housing crisis. Closing three offices in a state that has been one of the hardest-hit by this ongoing issue will have disastrous consequences."